Longoria was among 27 people who wrote words favorable of Huffman and addressed to the judge. The letters were submitted on Friday in response to prosecutors recommending Huffman, 56, be sentenced to one month in jail, followed by 12 months of supervised release and a fine of $20,000.

In her two-page letter, obtained by PEOPLE, Longoria recalled “numerous wonderful memories” she shared with Huffman, including their time on the set of the ABC drama they costarred in, alongside Cross and Teri Hatcher, from 2004 to 2012.

Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria

Tibrina Hobson/WireImage

Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria

Jerod Harris/Getty Images

“I worked with Felicity for nearly a decade of my life on a television show. Seeing her every day of every week for nearly 15 hours a day. When I began the TV show, I was very new to the business and industry as a whole. Felicity was the first one to take me under her wing,” Longoria wrote.

The mother of one reflected on the cast’s first table read, during which she sat alone, “scared and unsure,” but it was Huffman’s “gentle character and kind heart” that reassured Longoria. “She sat down beside me and never left my side since that day,” Longoria noted, adding that she was “bullied at work by a co-worker” but the “anxiety” of the incident “stopped” when Huffman intervened.

After providing multiple examples of Huffman’s friendship on and off the set of Desperate Housewives, Longoria ended her letter by writing, “She always leads with her heart and has always put others first. This is why I still call her my friend today and always.”

Huffman pleaded guilty on May 13 to her role in the college admissions scandal, in which she paid $15,000 to facilitate cheating on daughter Sophia’s SAT test by having a proctor correct the teen’s answers.

PEOPLE confirmed on Friday that prosecutors recommended the actress face one month in prison, followed by 12 months of supervised release and a $20,000 fine. Through her attorneys, Huffman asked the judge on the case for one year of probation and community service instead.

In Huffman’s sentencing memorandum, which was reviewed by PEOPLE, prosecutors described her conduct as “deliberate and manifestly criminal.”

“It was wrong, she knew it was wrong, and she actively participated in manipulating her daughter’s guidance counselor, the testing services and the schools to which her daughter applied,” the document reads. “Her efforts weren’t driven by need or desperation, but by a sense of entitlement, or at least moral cluelessness, facilitated by wealth and insularity.”

The mother of two, who shares daughters Sophia, 19, and Georgia, 17, with husband William H. Macy, will be sentenced on Sept. 13.

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Eva Longoria Reunites with Marcia Cross After Her Letter of Support for Costar Felicity Huffman

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